Tout Wars FAAB Report: Week of April 9

Welcome to the weekly Tout Wars FAAB report, on its new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:20 PM ET to discuss the results.

You can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

PLAYER WINNING BID
PAlvarez, Bal Doug Dennis 41 Seth Trachtman 10
ESkoglund, KC Vlad Sedler 27
SCasilla, Oak Chris Liss 26
TraThompson, Oak Lawr Michaels 20 Doug Dennis 0
GHeredia, Sea Lawr Michaels 15 Seth Trachtman 0
DGerman, NYY Rob Leibowitz 13 Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 2 Seth Trachtman 0
TMotter, Sea Jason Collette 10
JAlvarado, TB Jason Collette 2 Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 1 Seth Trachtman 0
RBuchter, Oak Lawr Michaels 2 Vlad Sedler 3
MPerez, Tex Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 1
CBYoung, LAA Seth Trachtman 0
NEovaldi, TB Seth Trachtman 0
NGoody, Cle Doug Dennis 0 Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 1
DAltavilla, Sea Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 0 Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 1

UNAWARDED BIDS

PLAYER
JShields, CWS Vlad Sedler 16
BGuyer, Cle Lawr Michaels 15 Doug Dennis 0
BHolt, Bos Jason Collette 2 Doug Dennis 0
LBard, LAA Lawr Michaels 2
ARomine, Sea Jason Collette 2
EAdrianza, Min Jason Collette 2
JPeterson, NYY Jason Collette 2
NRamirez, LAA Vlad Sedler 1
SRomo, TB Seth Trachtman 0 Doug Dennis 0
HVelazquez, Bos Chris Liss 0
JKelly, Bos Chris Liss 0
NVincent, Sea Chris Liss 0
RRefsnyder, TB Doug Dennis 0
TRogers, Min Doug Dennis 0
AKittredge, TB Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 0
APruitt, TB Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton 0

Mike Podhorzer’s Commentary

With Michael Brantley returning from the DL, Ben Gamel returning shortly, and my satisfaction with Adam Engel keeping an active roster spot warm, I decided not to place any bids for a hitter this week. I considered bidding on several given that I had an open roster spot to work with, but they would have solely been for depth purposes. After seeing the bids, I wouldn’t have won either hitter anyway. On the pitching side, I could have used a starter (couldn’t we all!), but none of the available options were appealing. I preferred to stick with solid middle relievers than risk destroying my ratios.
Recalling the good old days of seasons past, Pedro Alvarez was the big fish this week, earning two bids, including the 41 unit winning buy to Doug Dennis. Injuries to Colby Rasmus and Mark Trumbo have opened up DH playing time and Alvarez has earned starts against right-handed starters. He’s a nice stopgap until the Orioles get healthy. Trayce Thompson was the second biggest FAAB purchase on the hitting side, as Lawr Michaels is hoping Thompson steals some time in center field until the Athletics return to good health.
On the pitching side, Vlad Sedler is betting on Eric Skoglund, of whom he was the only bidder with a winning purchase of 27 units. Skoglund is scheduled to start against the Mariners on Tuesday and despite posting an ugly 9.50 ERA over 18 innings during his debut last season, posted respectable strikeout and walk rates at Triple-A before his recall.
Perhaps the most interesting purchase was Seth Trachtman’s $0 bid on Nathan Eovaldi. He’ll take the zeroes for the week and then stash Eovaldi with the hopes he returns at some point in the second half after undergoing elbow surgery at the end of March.
Todd’s Take
When a relatively unknown commands three bids, due diligence is required. Jose Alvarado is a soon to be 23-year old southpaw making some noise in the Rays bullpen. Alex Colome is the closer, and is happy he won’t see the Red Sox for awhile.  Alvarado was impressive last year, fanning 29 with only nine walks in 29.2 innings. So far this season, Alvarado has fanned five in five frames, with one walk. A change in the ninth may not be imminent, but Alvarez is useful in a setup role in deep formats.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

PLAYER WINNING BID
MAlbers, Mil Phil Hertz 48 Andy Behrens 16 Grey Albright 10
Lenny Melnick 5 Tristan H. Cockcroft 4
TRoss, SD Tristan H. Cockcroft 25 Phil Hertz 22 Grey Albright 3
RGsellman, NYM Phil Hertz 21 Mike Gianella 18
PSeverino, Was Lenny Melnick 11 Phil Hertz 2
KMakita, SD Craig Mish 8 Lenny Melnick 6
GoHernandez, SF Lenny Melnick 6
VCaratini, ChC Phil Hertz 3 Lenny Melnick 2 Andy Behrens 0
CStammen, SD Andy Behrens 2
TRichards, Mia Derek Carty 1
JJeffress, Mil Grey Albright 1 Phil Hertz 0
SMiller, Ari Mike Gianella 1
GGarcia, StL Mike Gianella 0
JWilson, ChC Derek Carty 0
AEllis, SD Andy Behrens 0 Lenny Melnick 1

UNAWARDED BIDS

PLAYER
CBettis, Col Phil Hertz 6 Tristan H. Cockcroft 2
RErlin, SD Tristan H. Cockcroft 2
JMurphy, Ari Phil Hertz 1
CPerez, Atl Andy Behrens 0
JMathis, Ari Andy Behrens 0
AChafin, Ari Derek Carty 0
COGrady, Mia Derek Carty 0
ERamos, Phi Derek Carty 0
DanJennings, Mil Phil Hertz 0
CReed, Cin Tristan H. Cockcroft 0

Brian Walton’s Commentary

Based on Twitter dialogue among several Tout warriors on Sunday afternoon, some league members have not yet adapted to the new Sunday mid-day (or morning depending on your time zone) FAAB deadline. Routines will eventually change, but for this week, just eight of 12 owners placed bids.

Pitching was the primary target. That was not surprising, since as of Saturday night, no hitter who had more than nine at-bats this past week was available on the waiver wire, with most on top being catchers.

Milwaukee’s Matt Albers fetched the most money, $48 from BaseballHQ’s Phil Hertz. With Corey Knebel out for at least six weeks, the dreaded closer by committee was the initial announcement by manager Craig Counsell. Jacob Barnes (who I had acquired earlier for this very opportunity) was given the first shot on Saturday, but was victimized by atrocious defense from his Brew Crew teammates. Maybe Albers will be next, but unless he strikes out the side, his chances are questionable.

Reborn Tyson Ross is back with San Diego and was picked up for $25 by ESPN’s Tristan H. Cockcroft. Tristan, by the way, maintains a valuable resource for all readers, tracking multiple pitching starts in the week ahead. Ross has a tough outing against Houston on Sunday, but Cockcroft will not take that hit. He will get a much more favorable home outing for Ross against the Giants on Friday. This is an example of why Tristan has three NL Tout titles on his resume.

Hertz was also the winning bidder for Mets right-hander Robert Gsellman, at $21. A starter last season, Gsellman is pitching in long relief in 2018, and so far, so good. In four innings over four games, the 24-year old has allowed just two hits, no walks and has fanned an impressive eight.

The lone position player to fetch multiple digits in this week’s bidding was Washington catcher Pedro Severino, going to Lenny Melnick for $11. With Matt Wieters out (not on Melnick’s roster), Severino took the lead role over the weekend and offers better defense than veteran Miguel Montero, who was away from the club for a personal matter. Once Montero returns, we will have to watch how the playing time is doled out by first-year skipper Dave Martinez.

Todd’s Take

I’ll second Brian’s recommendation to check out Tristan’s revamped Forecaster, free on ESPN. Instead of a weekly schedule, Tristan will maintain a rolling schedule for the next 10 days, for both probable pitchers and hitting matchups. There’s a permanent link for each on every ESPN fantasy baseball web page.

I’m still looking to upgrade my hitting, but as you can see by the predominance of reserve catchers in the report, bats were scant this week. I’m sporting the low stack in terms of FAAB, so I’m planning on being aggressive.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

PLAYER WINNING BID
KMiddleton, LAA Scott Swanay 215 Bret Sayre 78 Tim Heaney 57
Ray Flowers 27 Zach Steinhorn 16
Jeff Zimmerman 15
SOhtaniH, LAA Scott Engel 111 Tim Heaney 56 Al Melchior 42
Scott Swanay 35
ChVillanueva, SD Brent Hershey 95 Tim Heaney 57 Al Melchior 42
Ray Flowers 27 Jeff Zimmerman 1
Bret Sayre 0
JJeffress, Mil Tim Heaney 78
MAlbers, Mil Scott Engel 77 Al Melchior 22 Bret Sayre 7
Jeff Zimmerman 1 Tim Heaney 0
Fred Zinkie 0
HRenfroe, SD Brent Hershey 76 Jeff Zimmerman 0
JLucchesi, SD Tim McLeod 71 Zach Steinhorn 36 Ray Flowers 27
Tim Heaney 26 Jeff Zimmerman 1
VMartinez, Det Tim Heaney 46
JHicks, StL Brent Hershey 45 Tim Heaney 0 Fred Zinkie 0
LValbuena, LAA Bret Sayre 36 Scott Swanay 2 Tim Heaney 1
JUrena, Mia Zach Steinhorn 36 Al Melchior 0
HKendrick, Was Ray Flowers 27 Fred Zinkie 12 Scott Swanay 2
Jeff Zimmerman 1
DRobinson, Tex Tim Heaney 26 Al Melchior 6
ADiaz, Tor Al Melchior 22
DFowler, Oak Tim McLeod 19
MMaldonado, LAA Ray Flowers 19
JJay, KC Jeff Zimmerman 4 Scott Swanay 2
AWilson, Det Jeff Zimmerman 1
TWatson, SF Fred Zinkie 0

UNAWARDED BIDS

PLAYER
GParra, Col Brent Hershey 51 Tim Heaney 1
TRoss, SD Ray Flowers 27 Scott Engel 12
YSanchez, CWS Ray Flowers 27 Al Melchior 22 Tim Heaney 1
Jeff Zimmerman 0 Bret Sayre 0
BZobrist, ChC Tim Heaney 26 Scott Swanay 5
KMakita, SD Tim Heaney 26
BNorris, StL Scott Engel 23
DHolland, SF Zach Steinhorn 18
RFlaherty, Atl Ray Flowers 17 Bret Sayre 0
PAlvarez, Bal Tim Heaney 16
ARomine, NYY Ray Flowers 11
BMaxwell, Oak Ray Flowers 11
CaJoseph, Bal Ray Flowers 11
CWallach, Mia Ray Flowers 11
DButera, KC Ray Flowers 11
DFister, Tex Jeff Zimmerman 1
JFields, LAD Jeff Zimmerman 1
SDyson, SF Tim Heaney 0
WHarris, Hou Fred Zinkie 0
YPetit, Oak Fred Zinkie 0

Bret Sayre’s Commentary

The biggest takeaway from this week’s FAAB bidding was that there were two unresolved closer situations still in the process of working itself out, and did so to the tune of around 400 units. Los Angeles is the more clear-cut situation, where Middleton looks to be the guy for right now. He already got one save in replacement of Blake Parker, and would have gotten another on Friday if Kole Calhoun hadn’t scored on a wild pitch to raise a three-run lead to a four-run one. Scott Swanay’s bid (215) certainly trumped mine (78) by quite a bit, but my hesitancy comes from the fact that there’s really no telling what Mike Scioscia will be doing here by the end of April. Middleton may be the guy almost guaranteed to get the next save situation, but what happens when he inevitably blows one? In Milwaukee, it’s completely up in the air and both Albers and Jeffress were added this week (making five Brewers’ relievers rostered in this league, amazingly). That number should go down to three by the next run of FAAB. I still think this ends up Jacob Barnes’ job, despite the ugly performance over the weekend, but with Corey Knebel likely to be back before Memorial Day, it’ll be a short-lived prize.

The other two big moves if the week were two west coast hitters, one significantly more well-known than the other. Ohtani, the hitter, had a strong showing last week and is now up to a .389 average and three homers. But more significantly, he started three games in a row. If he’s going to start consistently (except for the day he pitches and the day before), the hitter version of him could hold more value than most of us anticipated. I still think the Angels will slow this down a little when Ian Kinsler returns, as won’t be able to continue playing Luis Valbuena and Albert Pujols every day, but those of us who estimated he’d get around 250-300 at-bats, may surprisingly end up a little light on the estimate. My biggest move was grabbing Valbuena, who has also made the most of his playing time in Kinsler’s absence—hitting .308 with two homers since the second baseman hit the DL. He shouldn’t be near the lineup against lefties, but can still show 25-homer pop against righties. I’ll have to hope my third base position doesn’t go full Spinal Tap drummer on me, as I’ve already lost my starter (Justin Turner) and his replacement (Jedd Gyorko) to the infirmary. Villanueva was the other, but he hasn’t done much outside his magical three-homer game. The Padres should give him a good run at third base to see what they have, but that may require the dispossession of hitless Chase Headley. His upside in a mixed league still remains questionable.

Todd’s Take

Scoop time — one of my Twitter followers has it on good authority Ohtani is pronounced OH-tuh-nee, not oh-TAH-nee.

Either way, I’m not as confident as Bret he’ll be mixed-league worthy. At best, he’ll bat three times a week. If he pitches on Day 1, he’ll hit on Days 2,3 and 4. There will be times a southpaw is scheduled, likely leaving Ohtani on the pine.  I’m sorry, but three, sometimes four games a week won’t get it done.

MIXED DRAFT LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

PLAYER WINNING BID
KMiddleton, LAA Gene McCaffrey 207 Ray Murphy 53 Adam Ronis 37
Anthony Perri 24
JBour, Mia Ray Murphy 183 Adam Ronis 134 Rudy Gamble 77
D.J. Short 58 Michael Beller 57
Anthony Perri 43 Scott White 43
JBarnes, Mil Tim McCullough 141 Ray Murphy 83 Adam Ronis 78
Anthony Perri 64 Scott White 33
Michael Beller 27 Rudy Gamble 3
YGomes, Cle Tim McCullough 61 Greg Ambrosius 18 Scott White 0
YChirinos, TB Tom Kessenich 47 Ray Murphy 23 Charlie Wiegert 17
Adam Ronis 12
LValbuena, LAA Anthony Perri 43
NMarkakis, Atl Greg Ambrosius 39 Tom Kessenich 14 Rudy Gamble 3
Charlie Wiegert 2
MAlbers, Mil Scott White 33 Adam Ronis 23
FLiriano, Det Perry Van Hook 23
SLugo, NYM Adam Ronis 17
BMaxwell, Oak Greg Ambrosius 16
NAhmed, Ari Tom Kessenich 14
CGranderson, Tor Rudy Gamble 14
BLively, Phi Adam Ronis 14 Perry Van Hook 7
JHicks, StL Michael Beller 13 Gene McCaffrey 17
JLucchesi, SD Scott White 13 Tom Kessenich 9
DVogelbach, Sea Scott White 13
ACashner, Bal Jeff Boggis 12
BJohnson, Bos Ray Murphy 12
CaJoseph, Bal Anthony Perri 11 Greg Ambrosius 13
CFulmer, CWS Michael Beller 3
ChVillanueva, SD Adam Ronis 3 Rudy Gamble 3
AFrazier, Pit Charlie Wiegert 1

UNAWARDED BIDS

PLAYER
DSpan, TB Greg Ambrosius 21 Tom Kessenich 4
BGoodwin, Was Greg Ambrosius 11
RRivera, LAA Anthony Perri 11 Greg Ambrosius 7
FGalvis, SD Tom Kessenich 7 Rudy Gamble 3
TWilliams, Pit Tom Kessenich 2
AOttavino, Col Perry Van Hook 2
ADiaz, Tor Adam Ronis 1
DFisher, Hou Adam Ronis 1
MMahtook, Det Adam Ronis 1

Todd’s Take

It’s no surprise closers dominated bidding. Some are pointing to the early scuffles of Kenley Jansen and the unfortunate injury to Corey Knebel as proof positive never to pay for saves. OK, that’s fine. However, riddle me this? Who’s closing for the Angels? Or Brewers? You can take your chance on the perceived safe choices, or you can throw darts in FAAB. There’s no right answer.

I’m curious how the Rays will treat Yonny Chirinos. It appears he’s now one of the four regular starters, and not someone paraded out during the bullpen day. As a regular starter, Chirinos is mixed-league worthy, but temper expectations. The 24-year old righty isn’t dominant, but he won’t beat himself.

HEAD TO HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

PLAYER WINNING BID
JBarnes, Mil Howard Bender 364
TSkaggs, LAA Clay Link 61 Peter Kreutzer 41 Michael Rathburn 32
Jake Ciely 3 Justin Mason 3
PTucker, Atl Peter Kreutzer 57 Howard Bender 31
JUrena, Mia Kyle Elfrink 48
JPirela, SD Howard Bender 41
YChirinos, TB Peter Kreutzer 37
CMoran, Pit Dr. Roto 33
SOhtaniH, LAA Paul Sporer 24 Howard Bender 21 Andrea LaMont 18

UNAWARDED BIDS

PLAYER
KKela, Tex Howard Bender 224
JSoria, CWS Howard Bender 94
KMiddleton, LAA Howard Bender 44 Clay Link 12
ATriggs, Oak Peter Kreutzer 33
SBrault, Pit Peter Kreutzer 33
BLively, Phi Kyle Elfrink 26
NAhmed, Ari Paul Sporer 19
HRamirez, Bos Paul Sporer 18
COwings, Ari Dr. Roto 12
JTomlin, Cle Kyle Elfrink 11

Todd’s Take

Still being convinced pitching is the road to victory in this head to head scoring, I’m all in with the Tyler Skaggs bid from Rotowire’s Clay Link. It’s not a play for this week as Skagg’s has just one start, lined up in Texas on Tuesday, not the easiest place to pitch. To me, this is a bet a healthy Skaggs has the break out many expect. So far, so good as he’s whiffed 10 with two walks in 11 stanzas to open the 2018 campaign.